Customer Management

Overview

Customer Management is where you keep track of every person and business that walks through your garage doors. It gives you a complete picture of each customer -- their contact details, vehicles, service history, spending, and every message you have sent them.

Why does this matter? Because knowing your customers means better service. When a regular walks in, you can instantly see what work has been done before, which vehicle they are bringing in, and how much they have spent with you. No more asking "Have you been here before?" or digging through paper files.

autoGMS automatically builds customer profiles as bookings are created, so there is very little manual data entry involved. Every completed booking adds to the customer's history, and the system tracks revenue per customer so you always know who your most valuable clients are.

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How to Access

1. From your dashboard, open the sidebar menu and select your garage.
2. Navigate to Customers in the garage menu.
3. You will land on the Customers page, which shows every customer who has had a booking at your garage.

Business accounts still have their own dedicated workflow and page for fleet and invoicing tasks (more on this below).

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Key Features at a Glance

Feature	What It Does
Customer List	Browse customers from a left-hand directory with name and phone details
Customer Profile	View the selected customer's contact info, vehicles, history, attachments, and communication in the same workspace
Search and Filters	Find customers by name or phone; filter by type, last visit, and spend
Vehicle Management	Add, edit, and delete vehicles for any customer; track mileage and license plates
Booking History	See every past and current booking for a customer, with service details and pricing
Communication History	View all emails, SMS, and WhatsApp messages sent to a customer
Attachments and Documents	Upload and manage files like warranty documents, ID copies, and inspection photos
Business Accounts	Dedicated view for fleet and business customers with invoicing tools
Bulk Import	Import up to 500 customers at once from a CSV file
Marketing Preferences	Control whether a customer receives marketing messages

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The Customer Directory

What You Will See

When you open the Customers page, you will see a customer directory sidebar on the left containing:

• A page header with the title, description, and an Import customers button.
• A directory card with a title ("Customer Directory"), a customer count, and a short description.
• A search field pinned at the top of the directory card.
• A Filters button you can expand or collapse. When filters are active, the button shows how many filters are applied (e.g., "Filters (2)").
• A customer list where each row shows:

Sidebar Row	Description
Name	The customer's full name (or business name if no personal name is set)
Secondary line	Phone number for individuals; phone number and business name for business accounts
Icon	A phone icon for individuals, a building icon for business accounts

The active customer is highlighted with a blue background and a blue left-edge indicator.

• A pagination bar at the bottom of the directory if there are more than 24 customers. This shows the current page, total pages, and previous/next buttons.

Desktop Layout

On desktop and larger tablets, Customers uses a two-column split-view layout:

• The left column (360px wide) contains the directory card with search, filters, and customer list.
• The right column fills the remaining space and shows the selected customer's full profile, including tabs for Overview, Bookings, Attachments, and Communication.
• Both columns scroll independently within the same viewport.
• If you open /customers with no customer selected, the right panel shows an empty state prompting you to choose one from the directory.
• If you open a direct customer link and that customer is not on the current sidebar page, the selected customer is pinned at the top of the directory with a "Selected customer" label and an "Outside this page" note. This pin disappears when you search, filter, or navigate pages.

Mobile Layout

On mobile, the customer directory is a list-first experience:

• You start on the customer list (the directory card takes the full screen).
• Tapping a customer opens their profile as a full-page detail view with a back button.
• Using the back button or your browser/app back action returns you to the list.

Viewing a Customer

Click a customer in the sidebar to load their profile. On desktop, the profile opens in the right-hand panel without leaving the page. On mobile, the profile opens as a full-page detail view.

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Searching and Filtering

Quick Search

There is a search bar at the top of the directory card. Type any of the following to find a customer:

• First name or last name
• Phone number

The search is debounced -- results update after a brief pause as you type. The page resets to page 1 whenever you change your search term.

Filters

Click the Filters button below the search bar to expand a collapsible filter panel. Available filters:

• Customer Type -- Show only Business customers or only Individual customers.
• Last Visit -- Filter by how recently a customer visited: Last Week, Last Month, Last 3 Months, Last Year, or Never Visited.
• Total Spend -- Filter by spend ranges (e.g., Under 100, 100-500, 500-1,000, Over 1,000 in your garage's currency).

The Filters button shows the number of active filters in parentheses (e.g., "Filters (2)"). To clear all filters and the search term, click the Reset button inside the filter panel.

Good to know: Filters and search work together. For example, you can search for "Ahmed" while filtering for Business customers who visited in the last month. When search or filters are active, the page resets to page 1 and the pinned-customer feature is disabled.

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Customer Profiles

Opening a Profile

Click any customer in the directory to open their full profile. On desktop, this happens inside the right-hand panel of the split-view workspace. On mobile, it opens as a dedicated full-page detail view with a back button.

What You Will See

The profile view has a header card at the top, a tab bar below it, and tab content below that. You navigate between sections by clicking the tabs rather than scrolling through one long page.

Header Section

The header card contains:

• Customer name (or business name for business accounts)
• Account type -- Business accounts show a "Business Account" label
• "Active since" date showing when the customer was created (e.g., "Mar 2024")
• "Last booking" date showing their most recent non-cancelled booking with a relative date (e.g., "Jan 15, 2025 (2 months ago)")
• Back button -- Shown on mobile and for technicians viewing a direct customer link

Below the header, there are four stat cards arranged in a grid:

Card	What It Shows
Total spend	Lifetime revenue from this customer's completed bookings
Completed services	Number of bookings that generated revenue
Average job value	Average price per completed service
Vehicles	Number of vehicles registered to this customer

On mobile, the stats display in a compact 2x2 grid centered below the header.

Good to know: Revenue figures include bookings in Confirmed, In-Service, and Completed status. The system uses the finalized invoice price when available, falling back to the booking price.

Profile Tabs

Below the header, a tab bar lets you switch between four views:

Tab	What It Shows
Overview	Contact information and vehicles
Bookings	Booking history and OTC purchase history
Attachments	Uploaded files and documents
Communication	Message history across all channels

The active tab is reflected in the page URL (for example, ?tab=bookings), so you can share direct links to a specific section of a customer's profile.

Overview Tab

The Overview tab shows two sections: Contact Information and Vehicles.

Contact Information displays and lets you edit all personal and business details:

• First name and last name
• Email address (clickable to send an email)
• Phone number (clickable to call, with a WhatsApp button beside it)
• Account type (Individual or Business)
• Status (Active or Inactive)
• Business name (only shown for Business accounts)
• Country
• Notes (free-text field for any internal notes about the customer)

To edit contact information:

1. Click the Edit button in the top-right corner of the Contact Information card.
2. Update any fields you need to change.
3. Click Save Profile to apply your changes, or Cancel to discard them.

Good to know: The phone number field supports international formats. When you edit a customer's phone number, you can select the country code from a dropdown. The WhatsApp button next to the phone number opens a direct message to that customer in WhatsApp.

Vehicles shows all vehicles registered to the customer. Each vehicle displays:

• Make and model (e.g., "Toyota Camry")
• Year and vehicle age (e.g., "2020 (5 years old)")
• License plate (displayed in the format appropriate for the customer's region)
• VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) if available
• Current mileage (if recorded)
• Date added

To add a vehicle:

1. Click the Add Vehicle button at the top of the Vehicles section.
2. Select the make from the dropdown, or choose "Custom" to enter a make not in the list.
3. Select the model (the list updates based on the make you chose), or enter a custom model.
4. Enter the year.
5. Enter the license plate details for your region.
6. Optionally enter a VIN number.
7. Click Save to add the vehicle.

To edit a vehicle:

1. Find the vehicle in the table.
2. Click the Edit button on that row.
3. Update the details in the dialog that appears.
4. Click Save.

To delete a vehicle:

1. Click the Delete button on the vehicle's row.
2. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Updating mileage:

• If a vehicle already has a mileage recorded, click on the mileage value to edit it inline.
• If no mileage is recorded, click "Add mileage" to enter one.
• You can switch between kilometers (km) and miles (mi).
• Press Enter to save or Escape to cancel.

Searching vehicles:

Use the search bar at the top of the vehicles table to filter by make, model, plate number, or VIN.

Good to know: For UK-registered vehicles, you can expand a vehicle row to see its MOT History. Click "Fetch History" to pull the latest MOT test results from the government database. This shows pass/fail status, mileage readings, expiry dates, and any defects or advisories found during testing.

Bookings Tab

This tab contains two sections: Booking History and OTC Purchase History.

Booking History lists every booking the customer has ever had at your garage.

Each booking shows:

Column	Description
Date	When the booking was scheduled
Job ID	A unique identifier for the booking
Service	The type of service performed
Vehicle	Which vehicle the booking was for
Price	The final price (or estimated price if not yet finalized)
Status	Current booking status (Pending, Confirmed, In-Service, Completed, or Cancelled)

Click the Details button on any booking to navigate directly to that booking's full page.

Use the search bar to filter bookings by service name, vehicle make/model, status, or job ID.

Good to know: The Booking History header shows the total number of bookings and the customer's lifetime spend.

OTC Purchase History shows over-the-counter parts sales made to this customer outside of bookings. Each record shows:

Column	Description
Date	When the sale was made
Part	The item that was sold
Category	The part category
Qty	Quantity sold
Amount	Total price for the line
Sold By	Which team member processed the sale
Reference	A reference number for the transaction

Use the search bar to filter by item name, category, reference, or seller.

Good to know: OTC purchases appear when your garage uses the over-the-counter sales feature in the Inventory module. These are parts sold directly to a walk-in customer without a booking.

Attachments Tab

This tab is for storing files related to the customer -- things like warranty documents, ID copies, insurance papers, inspection photos, or any other relevant documents.

What you will see in the attachments table:

Column	Description
File Name	Clickable link to download the file
Description	A note about what the file is
Type	The file format (PDF, Image, Word doc, etc.), shown with a color-coded indicator
Related Job	If the attachment was uploaded during a booking, it links to that booking
Uploaded On	The date the file was added
Warranty Expires	If the attachment is a warranty document, the expiry date

To upload a document:

1. Click the Upload Document button above the attachments table.
2. The upload form will appear. Fill in the details and select your file.
3. Submit the form to upload.

To download an attachment:

Click on the file name or the Download button on the row.

To delete an attachment:

Click the Delete button on the row and confirm when prompted.

You can search attachments by file name, description, or file type.

Good to know: Attachments uploaded during a booking (for example, from the Bay Card during a service) automatically appear here and are linked to the related job. You can click the job number to jump directly to that booking.

Communication Tab

This tab shows every message that has been sent to the customer through autoGMS, including:

• Emails (shown with a purple icon)
• SMS messages (shown with a blue icon)
• WhatsApp messages (shown with a green icon)

Each communication entry shows:

Column	Description
Channel	Email, SMS, or WhatsApp
Type	The category: Service Reminder, Review Request, Marketing, Booking Notification, or General
Content	The subject line and a preview of the message body
Status	Delivery status: Delivered, Sent, Pending, Failed, or Bounced
Sent	The date and time the message was sent
Related	A link to the related booking, if applicable

Use the channel filter chips (All Channels, Email, SMS, WhatsApp) to show only messages of a specific type. You can also search messages by content.

Good to know: This is a read-only view. It shows messages that autoGMS has sent to the customer through automated reminders, booking confirmations, marketing campaigns, and manual communications. Failed or bounced messages are clearly marked so you can identify delivery issues.

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Business Accounts and Fleet Management

What Are Business Accounts?

Business accounts represent companies, fleet operators, or organizations that bring multiple vehicles to your garage. They are different from individual customers in a few important ways:

• They have a business name in addition to a contact person's name.
• They can have a fleet of many vehicles.
• They have special invoicing tools for consolidated billing.

Accessing Business Accounts

Open the dedicated Business Accounts page for your garage to focus on business clients, fleet vehicles, and invoicing workflows.

What You Will See

The Business Accounts page shows:

Summary cards at the top:

Card	What It Shows
Total Businesses	Number of active business accounts
Fleet Vehicles	Total vehicles across all business accounts
Total Bookings	All bookings from business customers
Invoiced	Progress indicator showing how many bookings have been invoiced vs. total, with unbilled revenue highlighted

Business accounts table with columns:

Column	Description
Business Name	The company name, contact person, and phone number
Fleet Size	Number of vehicles registered to this business
Bookings	Total number of bookings
Invoiced	Ratio of invoiced to total bookings (e.g., "3 / 5"), with pending count highlighted in amber
Revenue	Invoiced revenue vs. total revenue, with unbilled amount shown
Joined	When the business account was created

Actions on Business Accounts

Each business account row has three action buttons:

• View -- Opens the full customer profile (same as the individual customer profile).
• Book -- Opens the fleet booking sheet, allowing you to quickly create a new booking for one of the business's vehicles.
• Invoice -- Two modes:
  • If there are unbilled bookings, the button shows "Invoice (X)" where X is the number of unbilled bookings. Clicking it generates a consolidated invoice for all outstanding bookings.
  • If all bookings are invoiced, the button changes to "View Invoices" and takes you to the invoice list filtered for that customer.

Expanded Row Details

Click on any business account row to expand it. This shows a Bookings Breakdown with color-coded badges for each booking status (Pending, Confirmed, In-Service, Completed, Cancelled) and how many bookings are in each status.

Searching Business Accounts

Use the search bar to find business accounts by business name, contact person name, or phone number.

Good to know: A customer becomes a "Business Account" when their account type is set to "Business" and a business name is provided. You can convert an individual customer to a business account by editing their contact information and changing the account type to Business.

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Bulk Import Customers

If you are moving to autoGMS from another system or need to add many customers at once, the bulk import feature lets you upload a CSV file with up to 500 customers.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Download the Template

1. On the Customers page, click the Import customers button in the page header.
2. In the import dialog, click Download Template to get a pre-formatted CSV file.
3. Open the template in any spreadsheet application (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.).

Step 2: Fill In Your Data

The template includes the following columns:

Column	Required?	Description
firstName	Yes	Customer's first name
lastName	Yes	Customer's last name
phoneNumber	Yes	Customer's phone number (include country code)
email	No	Email address
accountType	No	"individual" or "business"
businessName	No	Company name (for business accounts)

Fill in your customer data following the template format. Save the file as CSV.

Step 3: Upload and Review

1. Back in the import dialog, drag and drop your CSV file onto the upload area, or click to browse for it.
2. autoGMS will parse and validate your file. You will see:
   • A preview of the first 10 rows.
   • A count of total customers found.
   • Any validation warnings (e.g., missing required fields). Rows with issues will be listed and will be skipped during import.
3. Review the data to make sure it looks correct.

Step 4: Import

1. Click Import X customers to start the import.
2. When complete, you will see a results summary:
   • Created -- New customers that were added.
   • Updated -- Existing customers (matched by phone number) that were updated with new information.
   • Skipped -- Rows that had errors and were not processed.

Good to know: The import uses phone numbers to match existing customers. If a phone number in your CSV already belongs to a customer in your system, that customer's information will be updated rather than creating a duplicate. This makes it safe to re-import an updated file without worrying about duplicates.

Import Limits

• File format: CSV only
• Maximum file size: 5 MB
• Maximum customers per import: 500

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Tips and Best Practices

• Keep customer profiles up to date. When a customer gives you a new phone number or email, update it right away. Accurate contact info is essential for service reminders and marketing messages to reach them.

• Add vehicles before bookings. If a customer brings in a new vehicle, add it to their profile before creating the booking. This keeps the vehicle history clean and connected.

• Use notes wisely. The notes field on the contact information card is a great place to record customer preferences, allergies to certain products, payment arrangements, or anything else the team should know.

• Use business accounts for fleet clients. If a company sends multiple vehicles to your garage, set them up as a Business account. This gives you the consolidated invoicing tools in the dedicated Business Accounts view, making monthly billing much faster.

• Review the communication history before reaching out. Before calling or messaging a customer, check their Communication tab to see what messages have already been sent. This prevents double-sending and helps you pick up the conversation where it left off.

• Upload warranty documents. When a customer receives a warranty for parts or services, upload the document to their Attachments section. This way, if they come back with an issue, you can quickly verify if the work is still under warranty.

• Use the pinned-customer feature. If you share a direct link to a customer who is not on the current directory page, they will appear pinned at the top of the sidebar so you do not lose track of who you are viewing.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How are customers added to my garage's customer list? A: Customers are automatically added when a booking is created for them. You do not need to manually create a customer before making a booking. If you create a booking with a new customer's details, autoGMS creates their profile automatically.

Q: Can I manually add a customer without creating a booking? A: Yes. You can add a customer directly from the Customers page by clicking Add Customer and filling in their name, phone, and email. You can also use the bulk import feature to add up to 500 customers at once from a CSV file. Customers are also created automatically whenever a booking is made for someone new.

Q: Why can I not see a customer I just added? A: The customer list shows customers who have bookings at your specific garage. If you created the customer at a different garage within your organization, they will appear in that garage's customer list instead.

Q: Can technicians access the Customers page? A: Technicians cannot access the customer directory. If a technician opens the Customers page without a specific customer selected, they are redirected to the Bays page. However, technicians can view a specific customer's profile if they follow a direct link (e.g., /customers/:customerId). In that case, they see the customer profile as a standalone full-page view without the directory sidebar.

Q: What happens if I import a customer that already exists? A: The import matches customers by phone number. If a match is found, the existing customer's details are updated with the information from your CSV file. No duplicate is created.

Q: How is "Total Spent" calculated? A: Total Spent is the sum of all completed booking prices for that customer at your garage. Only bookings with a "Completed" status count toward this total. Pending, confirmed, in-service, and cancelled bookings are excluded.

Q: Can I delete a customer? A: Customer deletion is not available from the customer list or profile pages. This is by design -- customer records are linked to bookings, invoices, and other business records. If a customer is no longer active, you can set their status to "Inactive" by editing their contact information.

Q: How do I convert an individual customer to a business account? A: Open the customer's profile, click Edit on the Contact Information card, change the Account Type dropdown from "Individual" to "Business," enter the business name, and click Save Profile.

Q: What file types can I upload as attachments? A: You can upload images (JPG, PNG, GIF), PDFs, Word documents (DOC, DOCX), spreadsheets (XLS, XLSX, CSV), and text files. Each file type is shown with a distinctive color-coded badge in the attachments table.

Q: What is OTC Purchase History? A: OTC (over-the-counter) Purchase History shows parts that were sold directly to a customer without a booking. These sales are recorded through the Inventory module's OTC sales feature. The history appears on the customer profile's Bookings tab, below the regular Booking History.

Q: Can I see which messages failed to deliver? A: Yes. The Communication tab shows the delivery status of every message. Failed and bounced messages are clearly marked so you can identify and address delivery issues.

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Quick Reference

I want to...	Go here	Do this
View all customers	Sidebar → Customers	Browse the directory list
Find a customer	Search bar in directory	Type name or phone number
View customer profile	Click a customer row	Profile opens in right panel (desktop) or full page (mobile)
Edit customer details	Customer profile → Overview → Edit	Update fields, save
Add a vehicle	Customer profile → Overview → Vehicles → Add Vehicle	Enter make, model, plate
View booking history	Customer profile → Bookings tab	See all past and current bookings
View attachments	Customer profile → Attachments tab	See uploaded documents
View messages	Customer profile → Communication tab	See emails, SMS, WhatsApp history
Filter by type	Expand Filters in directory	Select Individual or Business
Filter by last visit	Expand Filters in directory	Select a time range
Filter by spend	Expand Filters in directory	Select a spend range
Import customers	Import customers button in header	Upload a CSV file
Navigate pages	Pagination bar at bottom of directory	Use previous/next buttons